This invention relates to a chair as typically used in offices and the like and, more specifically, to an improved back pad which can be optionally attached to the chair back to provide altered comfort and appearance.
Chairs, and particularly office-type chairs, are conventionally provided with either a shell-like back or an upholstered back. In a chair with a shell-like back, the back is conventionally formed of a molded plastics material having limited resiliency or flexibility, and any aesthetics or decorative styling are typically achieved solely by coloration and shape. While chairs of this type are acceptable in some applications, nevertheless in many applications they do not provide the degree of cushioned resiliency frequently desired or expected. For this reason many office chairs employ a cushioned back wherein the back includes an inner supportive shell having a suitable deformable cushioning layer thereover, which cushioning layer is enclosed by a flexible covering such as fabric or vinyl. Such cushioned back construction provides a higher degree of cushioned comfort as desired in many use applications, but at the same time such construction is more expensive.
In an effort to provide increased manufacturing efficiency and flexibility with respect to providing a chair permitting use with both a shell back and a cushioned back, one prior chair as manufactured by Keilhauer and known as the xe2x80x9cTomxe2x80x9d chair employs a back defined by a one-piece plastic shell having a large plurality of small openings therethrough disposed in a grid-like pattern, which shell back enables the chair to be used for direct supportive engagement with the chair occupant. In an effort to provide improved chair flexibility, the aforementioned chair can also be provided with a back pad which removably attaches to the back shell in overlying relationship to the front face thereof. This back pad employs a plastic shell with a foam layer thereover which in turn is enclosed within an outer covering. The back pad secures to the back shell by screws which extend through holes located in the corners of the back shell for engagement with aligned holes associated with the corners of the back pad. When the back pad is mounted on the back shell, there is provided a more resilient and deformable back construction for user comfort. The back pad does provide limited styling, except that the pad effectively covers only an upper portion of the back shell and provides no covering over the waist portion of the back shell. Furthermore, the securement of the back pad to the back shell by screws requires that the back shell have openings therethrough, and providing such openings is in many instances considered unacceptable from a styling standpoint, particularly when the chair is utilized without the back pad mounted thereon.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved chair having a back defined by a back shell which can be utilized without an upholstered or cushioned covering thereover, but which can optionally be provided with an upholstered resilient back pad which can be readily and easily fitted over the back shell, either at the factory or retrofitted at the job site, so as to provide the back with a resilient padded feel while additionally providing styling flexibility with respect to the appearance of the back.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an improved chair, as aforesaid, wherein the back pad incorporates as an integral part thereof an upward extension which, when the back pad mounts to the back shell, projects upwardly above the back shell to function as a head rest, thereby converting the chair from one having a normal height back to one having a higher height back.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an improved chair back, as aforesaid, wherein the back pad can be readily fitted to the back shell by means of flanges on the back pad which overlie the top and side edges of the back shell so that the back pad can be effectively fitted downwardly over the back shell to effect secure engagement therewith, thereby permitting the back pad to be easily and securely mounted on the back shell without requiring use of threaded fasteners or the like, whereby the back shell at least throughout the principal visible portion thereof can be free of fastener openings and the like.
In the improved chair of this invention, the chair includes a back arrangement which projects upwardly from adjacent a rear edge of the seat. The back arrangement is defined principally by a one-piece back shell constructed of a thin plastics material so as to have the desired contour and preferably at least limited resiliency or flexibility, whereby the back shell can directly function as the exposed back of the chair for direct supportive contact with the chair occupant. The chair can optionally be provided with a preassembled back pad unit which can be provided on the chair at the time it is shipped from the factory, or can subsequently be retrofitted onto the chair, to provide the chair with a more conventional cushioned back covered with a fabric or covering. The preassembled back pad unit has its own thin shell, again preferably a thin plastic sheet of suitable shape and contour formed similar to the main back shell so as to be positionable directly over the front face of the main back shell. The pad shell has a thin cushioned layer overlying and secured to the front face thereof, and a flexible outer covering encloses the front side of the pad unit and wraps therearound for fixed securement to the back side of the pad shell. The flexible covering has a top flap portion which wraps around the upper edge of the pad shell and is sized sufficiently so as to define a downwardly opening pocket portion where the covering overlies the back side of the pad shell. The pad shell also has upper and opposed side mounting flanges, all positioned so as to be disposed under the upper fabric portion which defines the rear pocket, so that the pad unit can be fixedly secured to the back shell by being slidably inserted downwardly over the upper edge thereof so that the flanges of the pad shell securely engage and embrace the back shell along the upper and opposed side edges thereof, and the flap portion defining the rear pocket overlies the upper rear side of the back shell.
In the improved chair of this invention, as aforesaid, the pad unit in an alternate construction has the pad shell provided with an upper headrest extension which projects upwardly a selected distance above the upper mounting flanges. The cushioning layer and the covering layer all extend upwardly and enclose this upward extension such that the pad unit, when mounted on the back shell, effectively defines a headrest extension which projects upwardly above the upper edge of the back shell to convert the back arrangement into a high-height back.